November 7, 20205 yr I have a Mecer 5kVA inverter, 4 solar panels and 4 batteries. This week, at the insistence of a qualified electrician, I installed a separate earth leakage switch for the circuits on my distribution board served by the inverter. There had been no such switch previously. Shortly after the installation, this earth leakage tripped. This caused the inverter to switch off. When I restarted the inverter, the AC supply voltage as indicated on WatchPower, the inverter software control package, read only 100V. This is despite the fact that the supply voltage as measured by multi-meter at the distribution board was 220V. The current status of the installation is that solar and battery supply is working fine, output is adequate. However, utility supply is non-functional because supposedly the voltage is too low. When the sun sets I will be on battery only
November 8, 20205 yr 10 hours ago, Leon Theron said: I installed a separate earth leakage switch for the circuits on my distribution board served by the inverter. Is the residual current device ("earth leakage switch") installed between the utility supply and AC-in of the inverter, or between AC-out of the inverter and the loads served only by the inverter? It should be the latter, since the inverter can cause too much leakage to earth, resulting in nuisance tripping. 10 hours ago, Leon Theron said: the inverter software control package, read only 100V. This is despite the fact that the supply voltage as measured by multi-meter at the distribution board was 220V. Does the voltage at the inverter's AC-in terminals read 220 V or 100 V? It sounds like something is wrong with your AC-in wiring, or the RCD (if it's wired there).
November 8, 20205 yr Author Thank you for your response. The RCD is installed between AC-out on the inverter and the load. The voltage measured is as stated: 220V by multi-meter at the distribution board, 100V as measured by the software control package at the AC-in on the inverter. No other changes were made
November 8, 20205 yr 6 hours ago, Leon Theron said: 220V by multi-meter at the distribution board, Yes, but what does the multimeter read at the AC-in terminals? If that's convenient. It can't be the RCD now that you've confirmed that it's connected to AC-out, but perhaps installing it disturbed the AC-in wiring.
November 8, 20205 yr Author Hi Coulomb, Thanks for the response. We'll try to measure at the AC-in terminals. Leon
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